Mechanical voice units, particularly smaller units, have been used extensively in toy dolls or the like. Some of these voice units employ records which are played or reproduced by means of a needle carried by a tone arm in mechanical contact with a speaker member. These voice units have record turntables which are powered by a draw string or pull string that is drawn out of the unit to wind a clock-type coil spring. Upon release of the draw string, the coil spring rotates the record turntable. The record turntable includes governor means associated therewith, for appropriate speed control. Such voice units are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,979,067, issued on Oct. 30, 1934; U.S. Pat. No. 3,245,688, issued on April 12, 1966; U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,934, issued on Mar. 5, 1968; U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,728, issued on Nov. 11, 1969; U.S. Pat. No. 3,532,346, issued on Oct. 6, 1970; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,765, issued on June 6, 1972. In all of these units, the record is pre-recorded to a constant speed and the units are provided with appropriate means for governing the speed at which the record turntable is turned by the coil spring.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,215, issued on Nov. 7, 1978, discloses an inertial voice unit having a flywheel carrying a record member in which a constant rotational force is imparted to the flywheel, and therefore the record member, by means of a sector gear operated by a cocking lever.
However, all of the known prior art fails to disclose an automatically actuated phonograph device operated by the simple pull of a draw string to impart constant rotational force to a flywheel holding the record member, without requiring a speed governing means.